The Mad Rants of an Unconventional Soccer Mom

Kudos to the law enforcement for putting a stop to these psychos before anyone was hurt.

WASHINGTON — Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday.

In all, the two men whom officials described as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people _ 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, TN. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

It kills me that these people exist at all. According to Kenneth, who knows way too much about Nazis, 14 represents the 14 words written by David Lane: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." I guess it is the code they live by. 88 means Heil Hitler -- H is the 8th letter in the alphabet.

And if this isn't all sick enough:

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville ATF field office, said the two men sought to go on a national killing spree that included an unnamed African-American school, with Obama as their final target.

These sick assholes wanted to decapitate children for being black! How does anyone hate this much? There is no good in these people. They are pure evil. And even though their plot was foiled, I still kind of want them to fry. It's the rare crimes like this that make me keep from demanding the death penalty be banned altogether.

I really don't know how the Obama family does it. Especially Michelle. I would be spending my day paralyzed with fear that I would lose my husband and the father of my children to some nutjob. It's remarkable that when she was asked about it during the primaries she said: "You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen." They are simply amazing people.

The end of the Bush era will soon be here.  If you would like to give him a piece of your mind, check this out.  Some of them are really hilarious.

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."

Paul David Wellstone

He was a great man who believed in the power of ordinary individuals.  His measuring stick was not the poll numbers, or the editorial pages, or the political pudits blathering away on tv -- it was the farmers, the students, the seniors, the people of this country.  He fought hard for what he believed in -- the environment, labor, and health care.  He made the fight for rights of victims of domestic abuse and the mentally ill the focus of his career.

I think, in large part because of Paul, that it is easier to be a liberal today, to be a progressive, to be proud. But back when Paul was fighting against Bush Senior over the Gulf War and then Junior over the latest clusterf#&@, it wasn't. Lliberalism was a dirty word and liberalism in defense of peace was mocked as unpatriotic and treasonous.  The crys against liberalism are still there but, today they are faint.

I know he would have been so proud of the campaign that Barack has run and I'm sure he would have been one of his loudest and proudest of his supporters.  I can just picture him touring around Minnesota in his green bus.  But unfortunately, he died just 11 days before election day in a crucial race to maintain Democratic control of the Senate in 2002.   In a fair world, today we'd be watching Paul Wellstone head towards his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.  What I can only hope for now is that Al Frankin will absolutely crush Norm Coleman.

And man, did it feel great! 

HONOLULU – Senator Barack Obama slowly walked up the steps of his campaign plane here on Friday evening, his suit coat slung over his shoulder, as he concluded his one-day visit home to Hawaii.

From touch-down on Thursday to take off on Friday, Mr. Obama spent nearly 22 hours on the ground in Honolulu visiting his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. He did not say how Mrs. Dunham was feeling and campaign aides did not disclose her condition, but he believes this could be his last time seeing her.

How unbelievably difficult it must be to say goodbye to a loved one, knowing you will probably not see them alive again. My heart goes out to him.

In "Dreams from My Father," Barack wrote how his grandfather was a dreamer and how it was “Toot”, his grandmother, who gave him his grounding. It was Toot that was practical enough to support the family by working her way up from secretary to vice president at a local bank. In his speeches he credits her with raising him to be the man he is now and he often sights her as an example of a strong woman succeeding through intelligence and determination. She really is a remarkable woman if you think about what she accomplished.

I hope that on Novemeber 4th Barack is able to dedicate a towering triumph to her. I hope she can hold on long enough to see the grandson she raised by sworn in as President of the United States.

And one finally thought:  Do you remember when McCain fake "suspended" his campaign for a selfish, dishonest political stunt?  Now Barack has been accused of fake suspending his campaign. I would like to point out that what Barack did was prioritize and delegate. These are two very Presidential characteristics. What Barack did was out of genuine love and grief, not a stunt. The contrast is overwhelming.

Can it really happen?  Can Indiana turn blue?  35,000 Hoosiers greeted Barack this morning in Indianapolis.  That's a huge crowd for a Thursday morning in a "red" state!  There were also two new polls out today showing Barack with nice leads in the state.

I wish I could have been there.  How awesome!  It will be icing on the cake if he can pull off a win here, because I never really thought it was possible.  I've done canvassing here, and it was really tough and depressing.  There are still a lot of bigots in this state.  Hopefully they will be outnumbered at the polls.

But let's not think about that!  Let's think happy thought!  Here's a really heart-warming story out of Evansville that should make anyone proud.  I can't wait until I get to vote on Saturday!

Trying to poison our minds with more incendiary rhetoric...

Doesn't he make the McBush campaign look so small and so petty with their chanrges of terrorism and communism? McBush played right into a closing argument that ties together the original theme of Obama's campaign. The whole thing almost seems orchestrated.  This is the theme that launched his presidential campaign and some of the words that caused me to support Obama since last summer and throughout the primaries.

He shifted to policy speeches as Americans looked more closely. But, he also predicted that McBush would attack and divide, even to the point of making fun of his name.

Now with less than 2 weeks to go the McBush campaign in full-bore erratic divisive mode and Obama goes back to HOPE! Not a hope in red states or blue states, but in the UNITED States.

What a beautiful campaign, and what a great feeling it is to know that Barack Obama will be our President after the 4th.

During Powell’s endorsement on MTP this morning, he ended it very powerfully by the dismantling of McBush's "He's not an Arab... He's a Decent Man” and the "Obama is a Muslim" memes being spread by the right. He told the story of a young soldier named Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. Kareem was of the Muslim faith.  Kareem died in action for this country in Iraq on Aug. 6, 2007. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

"Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that's not America," he said.

"He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life," Mr. Powell said. "Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."

And he finally says what every decent American should be saying  - "So what if Obama was a Muslim" and he goes on to tell the story of this heartbreaking photo of Specialist Khan's mother at his grave:


The highly charged rhetoric being spewed by the right must stop. The way McBush and Wolf Slayer are constantly trying to tie Obama to terrorism and Islam is once again an affront to all Muslim Americans. We saw this type of fear and backlash just after 9/11. We are seeing it again with the McCarthy-like invocations of Michele Bachmann. I challenge these repulsive, incendiary bigots to look this grieving mother in the face and tell her that her son was anti-American because of his faith.

We must set a new tone in this country. We must not allow the fringe to keep demonizing anyone of a different race or culture. Hell! They even demonize intelligence and educatation. They prop up Joe-the-Dumb-Ass-Phony-Plumber as a national hero when this real hero nobly sacrificed everything for his country.  Who would you rather represent what's great about this country?  The idiot who had made himself a houshold name by whining about having to make even the most modest contributions to this society or the young man who paid the ultimate sacrifice to this country before his 20th birthday?

Thank you Specialist Khan for your service.  May you rest in peace.

Please go and read more about this All-American patroit here.

Colin Powell has just endorsed Barack. It was a well thought out, moving and articulate endorsement. His slap down of McBush was amazing; just the right amount of respect and disdain. I think this will be absolutely devastating for McBush. A Republican crossover with the popularity and credibility (deserved or not) of Powell completely destroys his closing argument against Barack that he is unsafe and un-American…especially among independents and veterans. It will be interesting to see the impact of this over the next couple of news cycles.



I’m not really a fan of Powell after his performance at the UN, but I have to give him much credit for endorsing, as surely it would have been easier to just sit this one out. He has now placed himself in the crossfire of people running the most vitriolic campaign in decades, who will instantly accuse Powell of endorsing merely because both he and Barack are black. I’m sure he just went from revered general to a "colored guy" endorsing another "n----r" in 60 seconds.

Do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it?

Senator Barack Obama, October 18, 2008

"There was the feel of a political world turned upside down on Saturday as Sen. John McCain found himself defending North Carolina and Virginia, while Sen. Barack Obama was greeted by huge crowds in Missouri, which Republicans had also considered safe just months ago," the New York Times reports.

Over 100,000 people welcomed Barck in the red state of Missouri! Amazing! It was Barack's largest US crowd. So many people with so much hope for a better future!

It's beyond clear that desperate McBush is willing to go anywhere and do anything to achieve his own selfish personal ambitions, even at the expense of his family:

ABC News has learned that Warren Tompkins, one of the strategists of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina campaign in 2000 -- which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blamed for his family being slimed -- is now a part of the McCain-Palin campaign team...

Tompkins, a protégé of Lee Atwater, has been dispatched to North Carolina to assess the state for the McCain-Palin campaign, Southern GOP strategists tell ABC News.....

The news of Tompkins being brought on board the McCain campaign brings to a total of three the number of GOP operatives McCain now is using despite the fact that he once held them responsible for the ugly campaign that contributed to his South Carolina primary defeat, a campaign in which McCain's wife Cindy was attacked for her past addiction to painkillers, and the McCains' adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was targeted as his illegitimate black baby....

Eight years ago, of course, McCain was much chattier on the subject of these types of calls.

"A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin," McCain told one interviewer. "Thousands and thousands of calls from people to voters saying 'You know the McCains have a black baby.' I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those."

Apparently, that "special place in hell" is the John McCain for President campaign.

I walked in the door and Hardball was on. Wingnut extraordinaire Michelle Bachmann was spewing her usual hatred, but tonight she took it even farther. Farther then I have EVER heard before:



Can you believe that??? McCarthyism is back!!! This is very scary. Just BREATHTAKING. My stomach is all twisted in knots. She's dangerous and inciting violence. People like this and Palin are so desperate that they are willing to destroy this country. What's the definition of treason again? What constitutes a threat to the Country?

"What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or Anti-America? I think the American people would love to see an expose like that."

SHE WANTS A WITCH HUNT AGAINST THE LIBERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS! I am so tired of these asshats who subvert the Constitution, but call themselves patriots because they wear a flag on their lapel. I am so tired of these asshats that think that are the only ones who love this country and our troops because they stick a yellow magnet on their bumper! And the same thing goes for these un-Christ-like “Christians”. Just today I saw a bumper sticker that said JesUSAves. It is just ridiculous and infuriating what is done in the name of God and Country. None of these morons that spew hate and try to divide this country further have any idea of what it means to be a real American. And this woman IS the Anti-American.

"2/3 of the American people think McCain is an angry candidate, and for 90 minutes, he tried to convince the other third." -- Tom Daschle

That about sums up the debate tonight. McBush did himself no favors. He was seething, gritting his teeth, rolling his eyes and snorting. And guess what? People didn't like him very much.  All insta polls show that Obama won big time.  Even Fox News.

And there were some really bad moments for McBush that stood out to me:

• When speaking about the Supreme Court McBush said: "Senator Obama voted against Justice Breyer and Justice Roberts on the grounds that they didn't meet his ideological standards." Yeah...I don't think so. Breyer was appointed in '94.
• McBush said a couple of times that Palin knows more about the issue of autism than nearly anyone because her son has autism.  That's not correct.  Her son has Downs Syndrome.  And what evidence is there of that she would do anything at all to help families with special needs children?   Do you really thinks a McBush administration would help fund IDEA? Would they want to expand rights for special-education students to private schools? McBush also said they want to help find a cure. But how? The NIH budget has been slashed in the past eight years. Will McBush propose additional funding, particularly for autism or Down's research? My guess is he would not.
• McBush sarcastically paid tribute with snarky air quotes to "the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's for the "health" of mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything."  What a wanker! I mean really. Ridiculing an exception in a late-term abortion ban for the life of the mother? Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about his views about women? I don't think it will go over well with women that he MOCKED and belittled the idea that some women are faced with very heart wrenching life and death choices.
• McBush said he would "encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations which -- or have the certification that some are required in some states." Did you get that? He wants to put teachers in my children's classrooms who have no training in education, which usually includes some training in how to handle children with special needs. This scares me. It's all I need is some former drill sergeant continually berating my sons to "look me in the eye when I talk to you." I've seen the type; they seem to coach a lot of kids' sports teams around here and it's not what the children in this country need. They need highly trained teachers and programs that are fully funded.
• And did anyone else catch McCain's remarks about 27 minutes into the debate??? He called JFK's assassination an "intervention"!!! WTF?? Nice code words!

I'm so glad in 20 days I won't have to listen to him again!

Hater of science and intellectuals...check!
Warmonger...check!
Hypocrite...check!
Power abuser...check!
Mean spirited...check!
"Christian"...check!
Evil...check!

This is the best October Suprise ever!:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A legislative committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential candidate, issued a report Friday night that found she unlawfully abused her authority by firing the state’s public safety commissioner.

***

"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," said the report, which was issued in Anchorage.

She really is Cheney in a skirt! What a smart pick McBush!  And by the way, this was a bipartisan report - 10 Republicans and 4 Dems.

Finding Number One

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

What are the chances that McBush will show his maverickness by casting the wicked, no good, politics as usual Wolf Slayer off his ticket?  He needs to be hit hard for his judgement or rather...lack of judgement.  This has got to be the worse VP pick ever!

What the hell has happened to my country? These people are inciting hatred and violence against a candidate for the presidency for the United States. God forbid some right wing nutjob gets any stupid ideas from Wolf Slayer. But if the worst should happen, she and McBush will have blood on their hands. If their over-the-top crap gets Obama killed, and his wife and kids are grieving in full view of the public, I wonder if they'll finally realize what 20 years of Limbaugh and Hannity and Coulter has wrought. My guess is probably not.

The choice in this election could not be more different. One campaign is attacking the policies of the other side while at the same time offering positive solutions for how we can work together and bring about change. The other side is using McCarthy style attacks on the character of their opponents, inciting their crowds in the worst way possible, and offering no real solutions. It's the ultimate battle of hope vs. hate. And I prayer that for the good of this country that hope trumps fear and hate this time.

"When you try to lead the people with the use of ignorance and fear, you only lead the ignorant and fearful."

This is just depressing. I really hope Obama funds public education properly because this country sure needs it:


I am truly fearful and ANGRY at the intolerance, the racism, and the stupidity of these people who probably call themselves Christians.

The rhetoric of the Wolf Slayer and McBush during the last two weeks has been very unsettling. They love to talk about Barack "Hussein" Obama and they love to accuse him of being dangerous, unamerican and a terrorist. The crowds have responded predictably with shouts of "kill him" and "terrorist" and "treason".  My fear is the slimmy tactic that the McBush campaign is engaging in will only take the slightest match to set off a powder keg of racial intolerance and religious fear mongering.  In fact it is already starting.  Dana Milbank reports:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

This is a very, very dangerous game McBush is playing. There are too many nutjobs out there like this one, with just a little bit of encouragement, will do something very bad. Just yesterday, McBush asked the crowd "who is Barack Obama?" Immediately you hear a supporter yell "terrorist." McBush pauses, the audience laughs, and McBush continues on, not acknowledging, not chastising, not correcting. He knows what he is doing. He is fostering hatred and negativity by not standing up to it. He should know better. It's appalling and is destroying whatever is left of his reputation.

The Congressional Budget Office’s top budget analyst said that the prolonged downturn in the stock market:

“has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, rein in spending and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer dollars.”

And it was yet another sucky day on Wall Street today. I don't think I will even open my 401 (K) statement when it comes in the mail next week. What's the point, I'll never be able to retire at the rate I'm able to save. Social Security will be gone or "privatized" if the wing-nuts have their way. 

How freak'n depressing.  Instead of retiring I guess I'll be flip'n burgers or greeting Walmart customers in my "golden" years. 

Easily goes to Team Obama.  That makes it 3 - 0.  There's no doubt about what the papers and talking heads will be saying tomorrow.  In fact here is the focus group of undecideds on CNN:

Who expressed his views more clearly in the debate?
Obama 60
McCain 30

Who spent more time attacking his opponent?
Obama 17
McCain 63

Who seemed to be the stronger leader?
Obama 54
McCain 43

Who was most likeable?
Obama 65
McCain 28

Will people vote for a person that they don't even find likeable?  No good news for McCain there...or should I say in a snarky, disrespectful, condensending, asshole way:  for that one.  That one could not mask his disdain for Senator Obama. 

McCain somehow needed to change the game tonight. He didn't. All of his attempts to paint Obama as foreign and dangerous are undercut by his performances, time and time again. Obama once again came off as presidential, while that one came off as peevish and angry. People will trust what they see themselves because they have certainly grown distrusting of McCain's campaign rhetoric.

My guess is that in about two day Obama will pick up another couple of point.  Right now he up nationally about 9 points.  That's an electorial blowout!  I just wish my own state would turn blue.  It's trending that way, but I'm not sure there is enough time left for it actually to happen. 

Oh...and one last thing before I go dream about an Obama presidency:  I love the ekg style tracking on CNN.  The insta-response monitors hooked up to the undecideds completely short circuits the ability of the right-wing noise machine to ramp up the "our guy won because the Democrat sighed" bull crap.  It's hard for the wingnuts to make their case that McCain won when the numbers are instantly so starkly in the opposition.

Get Out the Vote:  There's 29 days left until election day, but you don't have to wait until then.  Starting today registered voters in Indiana can vote. You can vote in person at the County building in Crown Point (for us L.C. people) any weekday between Oct. 6 and Nov. 3, as well as Saturday Oct. 25 and Nov. 1.

I am sooo glad the Stock Market was saved today!  That desperately needed bail-out of poor, poor Wall Street with the $7,000,000,000 of taxpayer money sure did put confidence back into the market!  Hopefully Main Street will no longer seep its toxic waste onto Wall Street.

Boy-oh-boy I can't wait until Monday when everything will be all better! Now that all of our problems are solved I won't have to worry about losing my job, right!?!  Can I please have my shares of AIG now??? I would love to go shopping!!! Isn't that we're suppose to do when we are in a crisis???

"Gosh-gee-WALLY! Her dun winked at me!" 

I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.

And this time I'm not even talking about a wolf. See!  A "Famous Person" even said so:

Brought to you by the same people responsible for the "McCain Wins Debate!" that was ran BEFORE the freak'n debate took place.  Who in the hell is running this train wreck of a "campaign"? 

Absolutely hilarious.  Urrr...I mean Gosh Durn HEE-LARIOUS!

They managed to set her expectations so low that you would have to dig them out of the ground to find them. So I guess if “winning” meant that she didn’t drool on herself then the McBush campaign should be very happy tonight. But after all the spin has been spun, it will be clear that she didn’t do her ticket any favors.

To me she came across as the Stepford VP. Her robotic recitation of Steve Schmidt's talking points was her only role. She didn’t bother listening to any questions because she was too busy trying to stay on script to risk any sort of spontaneity or glimmer of independent thought. After her disastrous Couric interview she certainly couldn’t risk losing her place on her note cards or saying something outrageously stupid for SNL to mock.

Even still she did have a few outrageous moments that should give everyone pause. Like the fact that she stated that she would not answer the questions that were being asked! What the hell! Like the fact that she thinks that she would be able to grab even more executive power than Cheney stole! I don’t know of I will be able to sleep tonight!

She also has the nerve to talk about a 'second Holocaust'. You do NOT politicize the Holocaust. Doing so is an insult to the Jewish people. To make it even more insulting, was her implication is that an attack on Israel is exactly the same as years of oppression, being forced into ghettos and camps, being tortured and experimented upon and then being exterminated by the millions. I’m sure those polls numbers in Florida will keep going south for McBush after that blunder.

Her worst moment…her “Dukakis” moment was towards the end. Palin tried a snarky attack on Joe by claiming that he did not understanding what it's like to raise a family. It was a pretty shitty thing to say to Joe. Apparently no one clued her in on what this man had gone through. After Joe set her straight about losing his wife and daughter and raising his surviving children on his own her response was to not even acknowledge his very authentic, very painful experience. Can you imagine losing a child? Do you think it is something that you ever get over? As a mother I can’t even wrap my mind around it. As I mother I can’t understand Palin’s response. There was no, "I'm so sorry for your loss" or any humanity of any kind. Rather, she talked about how she and McCain were mavericks. So instead of playing the part of the compassionate conservative she acted like the valley girl teenager she speaks like. Cold, obnoxious, empty-headed, blatant, and stupid. And I wouldn't have blamed Joe if he had walked across the stage and punch her in the face. And she surely deserved it.
.
The woman is horrible and her grating, “folksy” voice gives me a headache. But (luckily) now that the debate is over they can put her back in a box only to be propped up when they need her to give her stump speech. I’m sure I don’t have to worry about listening to her giving any more press interviews (Fox doesn’t count) until after Election Night.